Pittsburgh Steelers’ safety Troy Polamalu is fed up with the NFL fining players for what he deems are hard hits and says the league is making football a “pansy” game.

“It loses so much of its essence, and it really becomes like a pansy game,” the Steelers’ Pro Bowl strong safety said.

“I think regarding the evolution of football, it’s becoming more and more flag football, two-hand touch. We’ve really lost the essence of what real American football is about. I think it’s probably all about money. They’re not really concerned about safety.”

“You have to figure out how to tackle people a new way,” he said. “There’s such a fine line. I guess, hitting quarterbacks late and whether they’re going to slide or come forward — it’s too much.
“If you look at any sport, maybe besides mixed martial arts, it’s a real gladiator sport. We go out there at a high speed, killing each other.”

“You see guys like Dick Butkus and those types of really raw, old-school, pound-it-out football players; they could never survive in a game like this today.

“The Ronnie Lotts, the Jack Tatums — these guys who really went after people. They were that way because the game was physical. They couldn’t survive in this type of game. They wouldn’t have enough money because they’d be paying fines, and then they’d be suspended for a year after they did it two games in a row.”

I agree with Polamalu to a certain extent. He’s right that the game was bred on tough athletes that played the game hard and who were flat out trying to kill each other. But most of those guys can’t even walk now and I think the league is trying to take care of its current players more than it did in the past. I also think that the NFL is money-hungry and wants to line its pockets too, so I guess you could go either way on this issue.

It’s hard to argue with Polamalu’s overall stance, though.